I just started C2 Lesson17 (north) and I had a quick question.
What is the difference between these two:
Dw i’n meddwl, bod angen i mi fynd
Dw i’n meddwl, bod rhaid i mi fynd
I find that I’m having a lot of trouble picking which one to choose based on Aran’s English sentence. In English I would say that the two forms are synonymous.
I guess this has been lurking in my mind for a while, but I’ve just gone with it.
I was never quite able to decide between ‘Dw i angen mynd’ and ‘Rhaid i mi fynd’
Now with this new ‘bod’ structure more questions come to mind. Could one say ‘Mae angen i mi fynd’ ? And if so, why not ‘Dw i rhaid mynd’ ?
Jeff: Now with this new ‘bod’ structure more questions come to mind. Could one say ‘Mae angen i mi fynd’ ? And if so, why not ‘Dw i rhaid mynd’ ?
I’m afraid, the answer is just: because
“Angen” can be used as noun or as verbnoun, so you can say: “Dw i angen mynd” or “mae angen i mi fynd”,
but you can use “rhaid” only as noun, so “(mae) rhaid i mi fynd”. (Of course, you can also say: "Dw i’n gorfod mynd)
Dwi’n meddwl bod angen i mi fynd vs dwi’n meddwl bod rhaid i mi fynd - effectively no difference. How would you go about explaining, for example, the difference between ‘I think I ought to go’ and ‘I think I should go’?!
They’re pretty equivalent to the English - I need to go vs I have to go - which also have a very large area of overlap - so you’re definitely doing the right thing in just going with it…
And as Brigitte has said, yes, ‘mae angen i mi fynd’ is fine, but rhaid just doesn’t work like that…
Thanks. It’s actually a relief that ‘Dw i rhaid mynd’ is ungrammatical, because it also sounds terrible and is hard to say!
In these later lessons I’m finding that I sometimes choose different structures than the ones given in the answers, and it is kind of exciting to see the various ways of expressing things.
Grammar aside, the way I have come to think of these is that a need (angen) to do something tends to come from oneself, where “rhaid” is more of a compulsion, from outside.
So, I need (dw i angen) to drink because I’m thirsty, but I have to pay (mae rhaid i mi dalu) taxes because that’s the law. Sort of thing. There will still be grey areas & overlap though.
Interestingly, the fact that you describe it in terms of ‘sounding’ bad is a great sign that you’ve internalised enough of the patterns of the language to have a ‘feel’ for what you should say - in other words, that you’re functioning in a very similar way to how a first language speaker functions…